Today Chicago opened the large gates that separate Lake Michigan from the river to relieve pressure on a sewer system swollen with runoff and waste. The city’s sewer problems may be stark in light of the severe rain, but they are not unique.

After months of back and forth, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has approved Illinois' new water quality standards for several Chicago area waterways. For more than a year, the EPA has encouraged Illinois to make the Chicago and Calumet Rivers clean enough to swim in.Former Mayor R

On Tuesday, the board of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District board agreed to disinfect sewage from two Chicago-area treatment plants. Their 8-1 vote is the latest move in a long debate over the cleanliness of the Chicago River, one that has grown to involve state and federal authorities.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District did an about-face Tuesday afternoon and voted to support disinfecting the 1.2 billion gallons of partially treated sewage it pumps into the Chicago River each day.The 8-1 vote ends years of opposing the move as too expensive. Only district president T